Exploration for and development of hydrocarbon reservoirs may be efficiently done with the help of seismic data, which must be properly processed in order to allow interpretation of subsurface features. Generally, seismic data is acquired by using active seismic sources to inject seismic energy into the subsurface which is then refracted and/or reflected by subsurface features and recorded at seismic receivers.
In many cases, the seismic survey is unable to acquire the data in a perfectly uniform manner, resulting in irregularly sampled data. This may be caused, for example, by obstructions in the survey area, errors in placing sources and receivers, cable feathering in marine acquisitions, and/or the use of non-uniform survey geometries such as coil shooting. These examples are not meant to be limiting; one skilled in the art will be aware that other causes exist.
Some conventional methods for handling irregularly sampled seismic data include flex-binning. These methods may render the seismic data inappropriate for certain types of seismic processing such as tomography.